Indiana Sports 2023 Rewind: Football's Most Memorable Moments

In our "Indiana Sports 2023 Rewind" series, we look back at the Hoosiers' most memorable moments of the calendar year. Here are memorable moments from the Indiana football season, including the Hoosiers’ biggest win, most devastating loss, best individual performance, best play, most important personnel change and most memorable quote.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Though it ended with another disappointing 3-9 record, the 2023 Indiana football season was full of memorable moments.

As part of our “Indiana Sports 2023 Rewind” series, here’s a list of superlatives, both good and bad, from the football season.

Biggest win

This is an easy one, Indiana’s 20-14 win over Wisconsin in Bloomington. At the time, the Hoosiers were 2-6 and in the midst of a four-game losing streak. Their season hinged on ending the year with a four-game win streak to reach bowl eligibility, and they got off to a necessary start.

Indiana’s defense played one of its best halves of the season, as Wisconsin didn’t score until about four minutes left in the first half. An 8-yard touchdown run from quarterback Brendan Sorsby and a miraculous one-handed catch from Donaven McCulley gave the Hoosiers a 17-7 halftime lead.

Like many of Indiana’s Big Ten games in 2023, this one came down to the wire. Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke led a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, narrowing Indiana’s lead to 17-14. It would stay that way for nearly the entire second half, which was filled with punts, a fumble and a turnover on downs.

But when it mattered most, quarterback Brendan Sorsby stepped up. With a couple gritty runs and sharp passes to McCulley, Sorsby drove the Hoosiers just far enough down the field to set up a 50-yard field goal from Chris Freeman. Then, like it did all afternoon, Indiana stood strong and forced a fumble to win the game.

That turned out to be the last win of Tom Allen’s up-and-down, seven-year tenure.

Most devastating loss

As soon as hopes began to rise around Indiana, the defense fell apart. Illinois’ backup quarterback John Paddock completed 24-of-36 passes for 507 yards, four touchdowns and one interception – good for the second-most passing yards in Illinois history and most since 1980. It’s the third-most passing yards allowed by Indiana in program history, and the most since Kyle Orton torched the Hoosiers for 522 yards in 2004.

Indiana jumped out to a 27-12 lead, but Illinois responded with 27 unanswered points. Illinois receivers Isaiah Williams and Pat Bryant shredded the Hoosiers’ secondary for 331 combined yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner from Williams in overtime.

This was an especially disappointing loss for Indiana, because it was the most productive game of quarterback Brendan Sorbsy’s young career. He completed 22-of-33 passes for 289 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, and his connection with wide receiver Donaven McCulley was nearly unstoppable. McCulley posted career-high numbers with 11 catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and both he and Sorsby were graded top 10 at their positions nationally that week by PFF.

Perhaps this was also the loss that ended Tom Allen’s time at Indiana, as it killed bowl eligibility hopes for good.

Best individual performance

Linebacker Aaron Casey iced Indiana’s win over Wisconsin by sacking Braedyn Locke with 36 seconds left and the Badgers out of timeouts. The play put an exclamation point on what may have been Casey’s best game in his six-career. He finished with nine tackles, including seven in the fourth quarter, four losses and two sacks.

Casey was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after the win, and he went on to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors from the Associated Press. Indiana’s team captain, Casey led the Big Ten and ranked No. 2 nationally in tackles for loss (20.0) and solo tackles (78).

Best play

Jaylin Lucas’ kick-return touchdown at Purdue and Cam Camper’s diving catch against Indiana State deserve to be mentioned, but the winner of this category is Donaven McCulley’s one-handed touchdown catch against Wisconsin. It was an incredible athletic feat, and it came during the Hoosiers’ biggest win of the season. McCulley needed every inch of his 6-foot-5 frame to come down with this one, and no defender was stopping him.

WHAT. A. CATCH. 😱

Donaven McCulley’s one-handed TD grab gave @IndianaFootball a lead that they never gave up.

📍 Unleaded 88 pic.twitter.com/KwAVZ7LcHS

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 4, 2023

Most important personnel change

Much of Indiana’s 2023 season revolved around rotating quarterbacks and firing offensive coordinator Walt Bell, but the easy choice for this is the head coaching change from Tom Allen to Curt Cignetti. Allen’s tenure came with the program’s best two-year stretch since the 1990s, but a 9-27 record with just three Big Ten wins since 2021 meant it was time for a change, even with a $15.5 million buyout.

Indiana replaced Allen with Cignetti, who went 52-9 at James Madison since 2019. He spoke with confidence at his introductory press conference that he can turn Indiana into a winner, and significant financial support should help him rebuild the roster through the transfer portal. If anything, it showed the university is more serious than ever about football.

Most memorable quote

Curt Cignetti wasted no time making an impression on the Indiana fanbase. On the same day as his introductory press conference, which was filled with bold claims, Cignetti drew national attention for his comments that night at the men’s basketball game against Maryland.

“I’m super fired up about this opportunity,” Cignetti said to a giddy Assembly Hall crowd. “I’ve never taken a backseat to anybody and don’t plan on starting now. Purdue sucks! But so does Michigan and Ohio State! Go IU!”

“Purdue sucks!”

“So does Michigan and Ohio State!”

The Curt Cignetti era is here

pic.twitter.com/2QFA41eF7V

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) December 2, 2023